About Chantal Joffe

Recalling Alice Neel, Max Beckmann, and Alex Katz, Chantal Joffe makes portraits that bring a combination of insight, wit, and an eye for awkwardness and individuality to the genre of portrait painting. Based loosely on photographs of women sourced from fashion magazines, photo albums, pornography, and elsewhere, Joffe’s paintings—juxtaposing thin, dripping washes with thicker oily passages—explore the notion that all appearances and images, regardless of how off-hand they may seem, are carefully planned and constructed. "I’m a terrible photographer [...] But in a way, the more the photo is crap, the better to paint from," she says.

British, b. 1969, St. Albans, Vermont, based in London, United Kingdom